Adjustable gear.



Patented January 31, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE M. MILLS, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY.

ADJUSTABLE' GEAR.

SPEGIFIGATIQN forming part of Letters x-Patrent No. 781,219, dated January. 31, 1905.

Application nei April 12, 1904. serai No. 202,838.

T0 @ZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE M. MILLS, a citi- 'zen of the United States,` and a resident of Jersey City, in the countyof Hudson and State of New Jersey, haveJ invented certaininew Vand provide'a gear-wheel capacitated for revoluble shifting movement relative to its hub, theA partsv being so conditioned that graduated ad- Justm'ents ranging'from an exceedingly7 fine to an extended degree can be expeditiously accomplished without difliculty. and without involving the employment of screw-threads in the means directly affecting the revoluble adjustment referred to. f

With the above purposes in view the improvements primarily comprehend a gearwheel with a hub relatively rotatable with respect therewith, together with a manuallyoperated eccentric'device revolubly bearing in one of said parts and in sliding engagementv with the other, whereby thejpartial revolution of the journal on which said eccentric device turns will cause the gear-wheel and hub to be relatively shifted the one with respect .to the other, and thus-compensate for the wearing of the gear-teeth and secure the-true actuative relation of the wheel with regard to acompanion gear. A

There are other important features connected with the invention which, besides those alluded to, are clearly set forth in the v.

subsequent detailed description.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspeciiication, Figure 1 is an elevational view of a pair of `geared rollers such as are embodied in a machine for moldingv hard-candy designs'. Fig. Qis a face view of one of the gear-wheels of said rollers, said gear-wheel embodying my invention and the l view indicating by dotted lines the relation of the gear-adjusting device in its initial or primary position. Fig. 3 shows said gear-wheel viewed, at the opposite side, the graduations or gage-marks contributing to the accurate adjustment of the wheel being also shown. Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional View of the gearwheel, the section being Vin the plane indicated by the broken line 4 4, Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is an enlarged detailed section disclosing more especially the eccentric device, its box,l and undercut or dovetailedway in the end of the hub in which said block slides. '.Eig. Gis a sectional view illustrating how the sections of a sphere of hard candy should register; and Fig. 7 is a somewhat similar view. but indicating how the candy-sections are out of'register when'the rollers are not in proper correlation ,owing to the wearing of the gear-teeth.

Similar reference characters are employed to designate corresponding parts in the several Views wherein they occur. i

In manymachines it is desirable that the Voperative relation ofa gear-actuated roller be accurately maintained, and this is not possible when the teeth of the gearing wear unless Veither new gearing is substituted or there vbe some provision for adjusting or resetting the lgearing to compensate for said tooth wear'. These considerations are. especially important in machines for molding'hard-candy designs,

in whichmachines'are employed a pair of companion rollers the shafts of which have.` -intermeshing gear-wheels, while the su-rfaces It is generally known to thoseifamili'ar with the class of candy-machines above mentioned that the hard character of the material operated on in the machine has a tendency to force the ,rollers apart, thus causing the engaging IOO.

contact of the gear-wheels to be borne by the iianks of the teeth, at which parts the latter become worn. Hence such wear obviously throws the cavities of the rolls out of registration, as indicated by 1a 2a, Fig. 7, wherein is represented the product resulting from an effort to make a candy sphere when the rollers are out of registration.

T he rollers A B are mounted on and turned with shafts a b, revolubly supported in suitable bearings in the machine. These rollers are so juxtaposed that recesses or cavities a b in the surfaces thereof are intended to be brought together to press the candy sections they contain together and result in the formation of the hard-candy designs. Of course the recesses or cavities will be configurated to impart to the candy product any desired shape.

On the shafts a b are intermeshing gear- Wheels A B', the hubs of which are keyed to said shafts, so that motion will be revolubly transmitted through such gear wheels. Either or both of these wheels can embody the adjusting` provision constituting an important part of my invention. 1 will describe the provision in connection with the gear-wheel A, it being understood that substantially a duplication thereof will be employed in connection with the wheel B', if desired.

The gear-wheel comprises generally a hub C and tooth-carrying shell D, both of annular character, the hub being in thickness and dimentions capable of affording comparatively great strength. The periphery of the hub is smoothly and accurately finished off for snugly occupying the space within the toothed rim CZ' of the shell. The front face of the hub abuts against the inner side of an inwardly-extending iiange cl2, forming an integral part of the shell and contracting toward'the central shaft-opening d3, alined with the axial opening c for a similar purpose.

At a plurality of points, preferably equidistant from each other, the hub is longitudinally tapped for the reception of bolts E, insertible from the hub front. In the construction disclosed there are three of these bolts, and each is adapted for passage through one of a corresponding` number of slots di, slightly curved to conform to the circular series in which they are disposed. rlhe outer ends of these bolts each involve an annular base e and square head e, the base for spanning the adjacent slot and bearing against the front of the fiange, while the head facilitates the manipulation of the bolt through the application of a suitable key. rl`he shank e2 of each bolt which is to occupy the appropriate slot is plane-surfaced.

From the description thus far it will be readily eomprehended that with the hub C secured on the roller-shaft and the gear-shell positively connected to the hub by adjusting the several bolts E so that their bases e will firmly clamp the iange @Z2 against the hub the construction will perform the functions of an ordinary gear-wheel, care having been observed that the position of the gear-teeth C is such that the roller A will be in proper coactivc relation with respect to the roller B and the machine operated in a manner well understood. The spreading tendency of the material operated on by the rollers will throw the wearing contact of the teeth upon the ianks c of the same and ultimately result in such undue wear of the teeth that either or both of the rollers will be out of true and induce the objections and difficulties heretofore noted. When this contingency arises, the proper operative relation of the rollers can be quickly and conveniently restored by slightly loosening the bolts, which will by reason of the slots Z4 permit a limited turning movement of the shell D relative to the hub. Such adjustment can be attained by the features which will now be described.

In the face of the hub C, at one point thereof, is a radially-disposed slideway F, extending from the hub periphery to and intersecting the opening c. The hub portions fat the forward parallel edges of this recess are undercut to permit the confinement within the way F of a radially-sliding block f', containing a circular bearing. Revolubly mounted in the ange Z2 of the gear-shell is a pin G, 9

provided at the inner side of' said fiange with a disk g, which occupies a depression in the contiguous part of the iiange rear and maintains the pin against forward withdrawal. It will be observed by reference to Fig. Li that the disk g revolubly works close to that part of the fiange (Z2 in which the way F is located. lntegrally projecting from the rear face of the disk g is an eccentrically-located stud y', which is cylindrical and of such diameter as to adapt it for snug revoluble engagement within the circular bearing of the block f. rlhe outer projecting portion g2 of the pin is square to facilitate the turning of the latter by the application of a suitable key.

With the cap or clamp screws E loosened, as previously explained, the pin G can be revolved to a limited extent. Assuming that such pin is turned in the direction indicated by the inner arrow, Fig. 5, the eccentric-pin will describe an arc movement tending to bring` it close to the wheel-center, but in a different radial plane. This will have thceffeet of revolubly shifting the gear shell and hub relative to each other in the directions indicated by both arrows in Fig. 5, the extent of such relative shifting movement being dependent upon the extent to which the pin is revolved. The changing position of the eecentric stud g' will be compensated for by the sliding capacity of the blockf, thus providing a positivelyguided engagement of the sliding connection established between the gear shell and hub. Falpably the turning of the pin G in the reverse direction will effect IOO the relative shifting of the shell and hub, but in directions respectively opposite from those ened and the gear-wheel is restored to the condition of accuracy of which it was capable previous to the undue wear of its teeth.

The shifting device represented bythe pin G and parts immediately coacting therewith constitutes an exceedingly .simple and convenient arrangement for expeditiously attaining the purpose desired. Moreover, it is of highly-durable charactenparticularly in view of the absence of screw-threads.

It will be vwell to locate on the back of the toothed rim d index or other means (Z .5, adapted to coperate with suitable graduations or a scale o2 on the contiguous part of the hub, so that the extents of different relative shifting movements of the gear-shell will be visibly communicated with precision. Thus if the rollers are but slightly out of true an adjustment of one degree represented by the first of the shorter graduations will suiiice. An adjustment less in extent can be reasonably calculated by the attendant.

I do not desire to be understood as limiting myself to the precise arrangement and constructionof parts shown and described, but reserve the right' to all modifications within th'e scope of my invention. 4

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In adjustable gearing, the combination, with parts'constituting a hub and a gear-sec-v with parts constituting a hub and a gear-section respectively, of a pin revolubly bearing in one part having a projecting operating portion and an eccentrically-located stud, the latter having a sliding engagement with the other part.

3. In adjustable gearing, the combination with parts constituting a hub and a gear-section respectively, one .of said parts containing a radial wayand block slidingly therein, said block containing a bearing-opening, of a pin revolubly bearing in the other part and having an eccentrically-located stud engaged within the bearing-opening of said block.

4:. In adjustable gearing, the combination with parts constituting a` hub and a gear-sec- .with parts constituting `a hub and gear-sec- Y tion respectively, one of said parts containing a radial way and the other part an oppo- ,site circular depression, of a block sliding in said way and having a bearing-opening, a pin revolubly bearing inl the part containing the depression and having a disk seated in the latter, and an eccentrically-located stud carried by said disk and engaged Within the bearingopening of the block.

Signed at New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York, this lst day of April, A. D. 1904.

. GEORGE M. MILLS.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM PAXTON,

-- CHAs. L. WOLF. 

